Orchestral apparatus



Jan. 5, 1943. E. s. PEYTON 2,307,296

ORCHESTRAL APPARATUS Filed Nov. 14, 1940 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 5, 1943. E. s. PEYTON 2,307,296

' ORGHESTRAL APPARATUS filed Noy. -1 4,-194o 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

BY 6W 4 F I Jan. 5,1943. E. s. PEYTON 2,307,296

ORCHESTRAL APPARATUS I Filed Nov. 1.4,11940 4 sheefis sheet 3 v INVENTOR.

. 5, 1943. E. s. PEYTON 2,307,296

Patented Jan. 5, 1943 ORCHESTRAL APPARATUS Edward S. Peyton, Crafton, Pa., assignor of onefourth to Samuel Strahl, Pittsburgh, Pa., onefourth to Thomas J. Harrison, McKees Rocks, Pa., and one-fourth to IreneSimon, Pittsburgh,

Application November 14, 1940, Serial No. 365,605

3 Claims.

My invention relates to orchestral apparatus, including automatons operated in simulation of musicians, and certain stage and lighting efiects, preferably operated in conjunction with soundreproducing apparatus such as phonographs.

One object of my invention is to provide an improved form of orchestral apparatus wherein automatons representing musicians of an orchestra will have movements imparted thereto simulating movements of orchestra players, and wherein the stage lighting and movements of the automatons will be automatically effected and controlled in an improved manner, in conjunction with the mechanical reproduction of music.

Another object of my invention is to provide automaton musicians of such form and operated in such manner that they will appear more lifelike than do automatons as heretofore made and operated.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 rep- Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view showing the general arrangement of parts entering into the apparatus of the other figures; Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the manner in which certain of the electrical circuits for controlling the lights are controlled through movements of various parts of a phonograph; Fig. 9 shows certain of the other circuits of the apparatus and control thereof by phonograph parts; Fig. 10 is a plan view on an enlarged scale of a switch shown in Fig. 9 for controlling amotor which opens and closes the stage curtain; Fig. 11 is an elevational viewof the switch of Fig. 10; Fig. 12 is a side view showing one of the other switches of Fig. 9, which controls the lights at the stage, and Fig. 13 is a plan view of the switch.

- As shown in Fig. 1, the automatons can be of life size or in miniature and may suitably be in the form of hollow rubber shells with the rubber in a. resilient condition. By making the automations of rubber, they will have a flexibility that will render them less artificial in appearance than if they were made of rigid material, and furthermore, they can be operated in a simpler manner than if they were formed of a rigid material.

That is to say, they can to a large extent be op 5 erated simply by pull strings, to move the arms or the heads in one direction, the inherent resiliency of the rubber returning them to their original positions upon release of the pulling force.

The motors for operating the automatons will usually be placed beneath the stage floor and pull strings will extend from the driving apparatus up through the bodies of the automatons. In Fig. 2, an arm of the drummer is represented by the numeral I5. A link l6 extends into the said arm and pivotally carries at its inner end a bar ll that in turn carries the hand and drumstick [8 of the drummer. A fixed pivot I9 is provided in the body of the drummer for supporting a lever 20. As the lever 20 is oscillated, the arm of the drummer will be moved, and there will be additional movement of the forearm of the drummer because of the flexibility of the arm itself and the pivotal mounting of the bar l'l, so that on a down stroke of the drummers arm, the movement of the hand and the drumstick will continue slightly after the lever 20 has come to the end of its stroke, the drummers forearm, however, being returned to its sharply bent position shown in Fig. 2, by reason of the resiliency of the rubber. The lever 20 is pulled against the tension of a spring 2| which may also be mounted in the body,

by a pull string 22 that extends down through the body of or behind the drummer, to beneath the stage where it has connection with a crank disk 23 which is secured to a shaft 24. The shaft 24 carries a worm gear 25 that is driven by a worm 26 from a motor 21.

In some cases the pull cord could extend directlyaround suitable guide pulleys into the arm of a player and be, for example, connected to the elbow of the trombone player or a violin player to periodically pull the hand of the player rearwardly, the outer movement of the hand occurring through the flexibility of the rubber, when pulling force on the cord is relieved.

In Fig. 4 I show a lever 29 mounted on a fixed pivot 30 within the body of the piano player, for oscillating the arms and hands 3|. A cord 32 for moving the lever 29 may periodically be pulled in the same manner as the cord 22.

In Fig. 5 I show a rod 33 extending upwardly through the body of a player and connected at its upper end to the head of the player, it being understood that the head and neck of the player are also of rubber and formed unitarily with the body portion. The rod 33 carries at its lower end a the head, which will return to its original position when the cord is slackened. The cord at its other end is secured to and partially wrapped around a grooved disc 36 that has rigidly secured thereto a slotted crank arm 31, through the slot of which extends a pin 38 that is carried by a disc 39. The disc 39 is secured to a shaft 48 that is driven from a motor 4|, through worm reduction gearing 42. It will be understood that the speed of the motor and the gear reduction is such that the head will be turned very slowly during oscillation of the disc 36 and its crank arm 31, the head being held against snap movement back to its original position by constant tension on the cord 35. A coil spring may be utilized, in addition to the resiliency of the rubber, if desired, to return the head to its original position when tension on the cord is relieved, the spring having one of its ends connected to the disc 34 and its other end to the bearing that supports the shaft 33.

The motors for operating the automatons are controlled from a moving part of a phonograph or other form of sound reproducer which is in turn controlled by a suitable switch, as for example, a coin box 44 that controls flow of current from a house lighting circuit 45 to a phonograph 46. The coin box may have certain selector mechanism therein, whereby a patron can select the musical number to be played and upon insertion of a coin, a circuit 41 is established through the coin box to the phonograph. The coin-controlled mechanism is well known in the patented art and need not be here described in detail. Similarly, the movement of phonograph records and the needle arm of the phonograph will automatically be efiected in various of wellknown ways. The phonograph 45 can be mounted at any desired placeback-stag-e or elsewhere and musical impulses are transmitted from the tone arm or needle arm thereof through wires 48 and an amplifier 4-9 to a loud speaker 50. The loud speaker may be mounted in the ceiling of the stage or behind a mesh screen.

As is common in devices of this character, the

phonograph record which has been selected auwhereupon the needle arm 59 is swung into posi- 5 tion to engage the record. The record table is mounted upon a vertical shaft 54 that has splined connection with a bevel gear wheel that is driven from the motor 53 through a bevel pinion 55. Suitable stationary bearings 51 (Fig. 9) are I provided to vertically guide the shaft 54 and to maintain the gear wheel 55 in meshed engagement with the pinion 56. As above stated, these movements can be effected in any one of well known ways.

At its lower end, the shaft 54 has loose connection with a switch arm 58 which, when the shaft is raised, will close a circuit through the motors 21 and 4| that operate the automatons. This circuit will be from one side of the house lighting circuit 45 through a conductor 5|; a conductor 6!; the switch 82; a conductor 63, to one side of the motors, and from the other side of the motors will be through a conductor 64; a

conductor 65, to conductor 41 and thence to the other side of the line 45. A motor 61 for operating the stage curtain may also be supplied with current through the lines 63 and 65. It is desirable to start the automatons in motion before the curtain is drawn aside and the music begins,

and for this reason the circuit for the automaton motors is closed through movement of the record toward playing position.

In phonographs of this type, when a record has been raised to playing position, the needle arm 59 is automatically swung into place upon the record. I utilize this swinging movement to energize certain of the other parts of the apparatus and to control the stage lights. To this end, I provide on the shaft 68 which swings the needle arm 59, a switch '69 that comprises a member 19 (Fig. 12) secured to the shaft 68 and carrying a movable contact member 1| for engagement with a stationary contact member 12. The contact member H is in the form of a brush and the contact member 12 is in the form of a plate across which the member 1| moves to make and break a circuit during swinging of the needle arm. When the needle arm swings to playing position, the switch member 1| moves into engagement with the switch member 12, thereby closing a circuit that leads from one side of the line 45 through the conductor 5|; a conductor 13; a solenoid coil 14; a conductor 15; switch elements 1|-12, and a conductor 16 to the conductor 41 and the other side of the line 45. Normally, foot lamps 11 are illuminated through a conductor 18, a switch 19 and a conductor 89. Upon starting of the apparatus, it is desired to illuminate the stage lamps 82. The swinging of the needle arm to playing position causes energization of the coil 14, as above explained, to open the switch at 19 and close a circuit through a switch member 83. This interrupts the circuit through the foot lamps and closes a circuit through the conductor switch element 83; the lamps 82; a conductor 84; and the conductors 13 and 5|. The lamps 11 and 82 are indicated on Fig. 1 of the drawings, but will ordinarily, of course, be so mounted as not to be directly visible to the audience.

The movement of the needle arm to playing position also closes a switch at 86, to energize the motor '61 in a direction to open the curtain, while when the needle arm swings to retracted position at the completion of a record, it causes the motor 61 to operate in a direction to close the curtain, the motor being of the reversible type, whose direction is controlled by a switch element 8|. As shown more clearly in Figs. 10 and 11, the switch 86 comprises a movable contact member 81 that in one direction of swinging movement by the shaft 68 will move along a stationary contact member 88, while when moving in its other direction, it will travel along a contact member 89. The contact member 81 is carried by an arm 9|] which is spring pressed in an outward direction, as indicated in Fig. 10, so that the contact member 81 can be moved from one switch plate to the other.

When the switch member 81 is in engagement with the contact member 88, a circuit is established from one side of the line 45 through the coin box and line 41; a conductor 92; contact members 8188; a conductor 93; a solenoid 94; a conductor 95, and the conductor 5| to the other side of the line 45. When the switch member 81 has been moved into engagement with the member 89, current will flow from conductor 41, through conductor 92; contact members 81-89; conductor 96; solenoid 91, and conductors 98 and 5| to the other side of the line 45.

Reversal of the switch contacts at 8188-89 is effected by a spring leaf 18 of insulating material behind which the brush 81 moves when the needle arm is swung in a clockwise direction to cause the contact member 81 to move across the contact member 88. When the switch arm 99 approaches the end of its movement in that direction, the contact member 81 will snap past the spring arm I99. Upon swinging of the needle arm 59 in a counter-clockwise direction, the leaf ID!) will serve as a cam to guide the contact member 81 into engagement with the contact plate 89, to energize the motor 61 in a direction to close the curtain. The motor is stopped automatically at each end of curtain travel, by the contact 81 passing from 88 or 89, as the case may be.

Summarizing the operation of the parts and their sequence of movement, upon the placing of a coin in the box 44 or the closing of the switch in some other manner at that point; a circuit is thereby established through the operating motor 53 of the phonograph, to not only set the turn table 52 in motion, but to initiate movements of the other usual parts of phonographs of this nature. The raising of the turntable closes the circuit through the automaton motors 214l, so that said automatons will be in motion when the curtain is opened. When the turntable with its contained record is at or near its uppermost position, the needle arm 59 is swung into playing position, and during such movement, closes the switch 69 that in turn closes the circuit of stage lamps 82. The switch at 88 is so set that the contact member 8! will not engage the contact member 89, through which the coil 91 is energized to move the switch member 8| into a position to cause energization of the motor 61 in a direction to close the curtain, until after the switch 59 is closed and the stage lamps lit. Therefore, not only are the automatons moving, but the stage is also illuminated when the curtains begin their parting movement. The switch members 1l-12 remain in engagement while the needle arm is in playing position, but are disengaged when the needle arm is in its off position.

When the playing of a record has been completed, the needle arm will be swung away from the record and during such swinging movement will move the contact member 81 across the contact plate 88 to temporarily energize the solenoid 94 to eflfect movement of the switch 8| toward the solenoid 94 and thus cause energization of the motor 81 in a direction for closing the curtain, the circuit through the switch 69, and hence through the lamps 82, remaining unbroken until the contact member 81 has passed out of engagement with the contact member 88 and the circuit through the solenoid 94 broken, at which time the curtain is completely closed, the switch member 8| returning to neutral position. When the circuit through the switches 69 and 86 have been broken, the turntable shaft 84 will have reached its lowest position and caused interruption of the circuit through the automaton motors 214l.

I claim as my invention:

1. Orchestral apparatus comprising a member for moving a phonograph record to and from playing position, a member for moving a soundreproducer arm to and from playing position, automaton musicians, electrical devices for operating the said musicians, electric lamps, a curtain movable from and to a position in front of the automatons, an electrical device for operating the curtain, and means operated by movement of said members toward playing position, for closing the circuits of said electrical devices, lamps and curtain-operating devices, in the order named, whereby the automatons are in motion and the lamps energized before withdrawal of the curtain.

2. Orchestral apparatus comprising a member for moving a phonograph record to and from playing position, a member for moving a soundreproducer arm to and from playing position, automaton musicians, electrical devices for operating the said musicians, electric lamps, a curtain movable from and to a position in front of the automatons, an electrical device for operating the curtain, means operated by movement of said members toward playing position, for closing the circuits of said electrical devices, lamps and curtain-operating devices, in the order named, whereby the automatons are in motion and the lamps energized before withdrawal of the curtain, and means operated by movement of said members from playing position, to effect closing movement of the curtain and for thereafter interrupting the circuits through said electrical devices and the lamps.

3. Orchestral apparatus comprising automaton musicians of resilient material, operating elements connected to portions of the musicians, a sound reproducer, and means controlled by operation of said reproducer, for periodically pulling said elements in one direction, to effect flexing of the material and thus move the musicians, and then relaxing the pulling force, to permit the musicians to return to their former positions.

EDWARD S. PEYTON. 

